What is Web Design?
There are many elements to web design.
Obviously, there is the planning and development process for creating your online presence, but today’s web design also includes functional approaches such as mobile optimization.
The importance of web design should never be underestimated – not only does a beautifully conceptualized website promote credibility, but it also improves your visibility in search engine rankings.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the visual and functional components that make up effective web design.
Visual Web Design
Visually, your website may incorporate a number of components including the website layout and content as well as specific features such as written copy, images, and videos.
Visually, your web design should reflect your branding which can be achieved by incorporating appropriate fonts, shapes, and colours. You can even consider how space and graphic elements are used on your website to ensure your visitors are not only impressed but engaged. The visual components of your website are often the more artistic features.
However, components such as written website copy, videos, and images are also important visual elements. These content components can support the visual design of your site while also creating an interactive experience for your visitors.
Content and design should be integrated to promote visual appeal, but also remember that content is a key component of search engine optimization and one of the main drivers that improves your search rankings.
Functional Web Design
Even the most visually stunning website will fail if it doesn’t function appropriately.
Your site should load quickly and run smoothly so that visitors have a good experience when navigating your website. You must also think about the variety of platforms that people are using to access the web. Some of the fundamentals of functional web design are speed, structure, and compatibility.
Search engines promote sites that load quickly but also those that feature various types of content. An all text website that loads quickly will usually rank lower than a site that has videos and images, so long as there aren’t significant waits for content to load. This means your content needs to be optimized to run smoothly.
Additionally, your site structure must be well-organized. Your users should be able to navigate your site without frustration or difficulty finding the information they’re looking for. Ultimately, search engine crawlers are sophisticated enough these days to weed out the poorly structured sites.
Finally, web design must absolutely be compatible across browsers and devices.
There are still many sites that are not mobile-friendly, for example…and you better believe that these sites are punished in search rankings, but they’ll also be punished by your visitors. If your website doesn’t work for the device your clients are using, they’ll move on to your competitors.
As you can probably see, web design is a fairly complex process that is best left to the professionals. When you have a stunning website that works well across devices and browsers and allows users to easily engage, you will certainly see a significant return on your website design investment.
